Hollow of a Tree
by GothLoner
Summary: A slightly chilling story, now re-edited and re-posted for your enjoyment. When a strange object appears in Karakura, it's up to Ichigo and his comrades to figure out what it is and why it is emitting such an odd reiatsu... May become a two-shot.


Ichigo Kurosaki tossed and turned in his bed, his sleep disturbed by the clutches of a dream. Or was it a nightmare? He couldn't tell these things anymore- none of the dreams he ever had were good, yet none of them were bad either. They were somewhat pointless and usually forgotten by the time he woke up. But this dream was different... There was a large tree- void of any leaves and obviously dying- standing in the middle of a vast field. The sky was hidden above dull, gray clouds, and the wind seemed never to cease blowing. Ichigo looked around, but there was nothing for miles all around him- nothing but that single, dismal tree. Suddenly, the wind picked up and Ichigo could faintly hear a voice calling to him.

_What?_ he thought dazedly. _Who could possibly be calling me?_

"Ichigo..."

_I don't recognize that voice..._

"Ichigo..."

_Who are you?_

"One of your friends is in grave danger... Ichigo..."

_One of my friends... in danger?_

Suddenly, the tree began to groan and shift, as if it were moving itself, directing Ichigo's attention to it. As its branches turned towards him, they began to unravel, revealing something within them.

"Ichigo..."

A thin, pale hand fell through the branches, exposing a silver necklace wrapped around it's wrist that Ichigo knew he had seen somewhere...

"Ichigo..."

Where had he seen that necklace before...

"Ichi..."

Where...

"Ichi!"

...

"ICHI-NII!"

"Huh! What the-!" Ichigo yelled as he bolted upright in his bed, nearly falling off in the process. Unfortunately, the stuffed animal sleeping on top of him was not as lucky and went crashing to the floor face-first as the sheets were thrown back.

"Oi! What was that for, baka!" Kon yelled as he stood up holding his now-red nose.

"Huh? Oh, sorry... What a weird dream..." Ichigo said.

"Ichi-nii!" yelled a voice from beyond the door. "If you don't hurry and get up, you'll be late for school!"

"Yeah, Yuzu, I know! I'm up!" Ichigo replied as he sat on the bed. Kon simply stared up at him with wide eyes.

"What?" Ichigo asked.

"What? WHAT? You just said 'sorry' this early in the morning!" the lion replied.

"Huh? Hey, you're right... That's weird."

"So, what was this weird dream of yours about, anyway?" Kon asked, walking towards the bed.

"Well, it's funny- I don't really remember... All I know is that it was really weird," Ichigo replied as he stood up to get changed into his school uniform.

"Tch. Baka," Kon muttered.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Ichigo countered as he grabbed his bag and opened the door. "You know the drill- stay here and be quiet."

"What? But Nee-chan's not even here-!"

Ichigo didn't listen to the rest as he closed his door and headed down the stairs.

_This is weird._ he thought with a frown. _I know that dream was important... But I just can't remember why..._

**...**

"Kurosaki-kun!" yelled a voice from up ahead of Ichigo. Looking up, Ichigo saw a girl around his age with long strawberry-blonde hair waving at him from the school gates.

"Oh, hey, Inoue-san!" he called back with a wave.

"Kurosaki-kun! You have to come and see this! It's amazing! Everyone's already there already!" Orihime called as she pointed through the gates towards the school. Rather confused, Ichigo decided to see just what it was that had excited the girl so much.

_Tch, probably a litter of kittens in a cardboard box or something._ He thought with a smirk. As he passed through the gates, however, he realized that it was most certainly NOT kittens.

There, sticking up from the concrete in the middle of the school courtyard, was a large tree. Not just any tree, either- a dead tree, with no leaves and a twisted trunk. Surrounding the tree were many students, all of them gaping and wondering just how it got there.

"It might be possible that a tree could grow up through a crack in the concrete..."

"But there are no cracks here!"

"Yeah, and the tree is dead! It couldn't haven't grown like that!"

"Man, that thing is so creepy! It looks like it belongs in Sleepy Hollow or something!"

"I wish I could touch it!"

However, none of them could get very close, considering the fact that there was police tape surrounding it.

"All right, all right! That's enough!" yelled one of the teachers. "I want all of you to get to class right away! The police will look into this matter! It was probably just a prank pulled by some punks during the night! Go on, now!"

Many students sighed and complained, but ended up moving away from the tree anyway. As Ichigo finally reached the tree with Orihime, he noticed two of his other friends there as well.

"Oi, Ishida, Chad!" he called, causing them to turn and look at him.

"When did this happen?" Ichigo asked.

"We don't know. It was here when we got here, too," Chad replied.

"It's very odd, it just looks like an ordinary tree, but there's some sort of strange spiritual pressure emanating from it..." Uryu Ishida added.

"Really? I don't feel anything," Ichigo said.

"You don't? Anyone else?" Uryu asked. He frowned as everyone else shook their heads 'no'. "That's strange..."

"Why don't we all just come back here tonight and see for ourselves what's going on?" Orihime suggested.

"Sounds like a plan to me. Great thinking, Inoue!" Ichigo said with a smile.

Orihime practically melted on the spot. "Oh, no! It was nothing, really!"

At that, the four friends began to head to their designated classes.

_But still, I can't shake the feeling that I've seen that tree somewhere before..._ Ichigo thought with a frown.

**...**

The school day seemed to pass by quickly. As Ichigo and the others left the school, they noticed that the police were no longer investigating the tree. In fact, they had already packed up all their gear and were leaving the area. One was left talking to the principal.

"We have conducted a thorough investigation and have concluded that this was most likely a prank. Maybe even some of your own students did this. We'll have someone come by the school tomorrow to pick it up. It'll be gone by Monday!" the officer said.

"Very well, though I must admit that this is going quite far for a prank," the principal replied.

"Yeah, well, it happens, I suppose. Though how the person got it in here is beyond anything I could ever think of! Must have been pretty hard!"

Ichigo sighed as they continued walking. "How could they just pass this off as a prank? It would be impossible to pull a prank like this! What, do they think we teenagers have superpowers or something to be able to pull pranks like this? Tch!"

"I suppose it's all for the best. It will be a lot easier for us to investigate tonight if they aren't snooping around here," Uryu said.

"He's right. Not all of us can take on spirit forms like you," Chad agreed. Ichigo nodded.

"All right, then- it's decided. Let's agree to meet here at around two o'clock," Uryu stated.

"In the morning?" Ichigo yelled.

"Yes, Kurosaki- in the morning," Uryu replied with a sweat drop. "Or did you forget that tomorrow's Saturday?"

Ichigo, who was about to argue once more about how inhumanely early that was, immediately changed his expression from angry to confused.

"Judging from the look on your face, I'd say you did forget," Uryu sighed as he pushed his glasses up and began to walk away. "Don't worry, Kurosaki. I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to sleep to your heart's content tomorrow... after we've finished investigating."

"Tch! That guy really needs to learn how to get off his high horse every once in a while," Ichigo grumbled.

**...**

Later that night, or rather very early the next morning, the four friends met up at the school gates.

"What the- Is that tree getting bigger?" Ichigo asked as he observed the tree that had now grown quite taller and more broad.

"Seems like it," Uryu replied with a frown. "And the spiritual pressure I sensed from it earlier has grown as well..."

"I still can't feel it, though." Ichigo said. "You guys?"

Both Orihime and Chad shook their heads as they walked over to the tree.

"Regardless of whether you feel it or not, there is something terribly unnerving about this tree," Uryu said as he lifted up the police tape and crossed under it.

"Maybe we should let Rukia and Renji know about this before we try anything. I mean, maybe it's from the Seireitei or something," Ichigo said with a yawn as Orihime suddenly gasped.

"Ano! Ishida-kun! I wouldn't-" But Orihime's plea was ignored as the Quincy placed his hand on the tree and closed his eyes. After a few moments of silence, he opened his eyes and took his hand off of the tree.

"It's so strange... It's almost as if this tree is _alive_," he said.

"Why do you figure that?" Chad asked.

"Well, while I was touching it, It seemed to throb under my hand, as if it had a heartbeat. And it's warm..." Uryu replied.

"Okay, _that_ is creepy!" Ichigo said as Uryu moved back under the police tape. "Let's just let Rukia and Renji know about this, they'll know what to do with it."

"I agree. That tree has a very foreboding aura surrounding it. It's rather unnerving..." Uryu said.

"I wonder if it's even a tree at all," Orihime said timidly.

"Given the evidence, I'm pretty sure it's not. Just call Kuchiki-san and Abarai-san and get them over here," Uryu said.

Ichigo glared at him. "Hey, it's not that easy! I'll have to go to Urahara-san and get him to open a senkaimon, then go through the Precipice World and-"

"Fine, fine! Have it your way, Kurosaki; just contact them in the morning, then," replied a very irritated Uryu. After a few minutes of awkward silence, Orihime finally spoke up.

"Well, I guess we should all turn in for the night, then, huh?" she asked with a nervous smile.

"Yeah, I guess. We'll meet here tomorrow after I find Rukia and Renji," Ichigo replied as everyone else nodded.

**...**

"What do you mean 'Rukia couldn't come'!" Ichigo yelled, causing two spiritually aware humans- and the Quincy next to them- to cringe.

"Could you say that a little louder, Kurosaki? I don't think that poor old woman on the other side of town could hear you," Uryu said irritably.

"What could Rukia possibly be doing?" Ichigo continued to yell, ignoring the aggravated Quincy glaring at him.

"Well, contrary to popular belief, it seems, Rukia DOES have another life outside yours! She's on a mission in the Seireitei, so you'll just have to make do with me," Renji said with a smirk as he stepped out of the gate created at Urahara's shop.

"Kuchiki-san isn't here to keep those two from fighting? It's the end of the world..." Uryu drawled sarcastically, ignoring the two death glares sent to him.

"Now, now! I'm sure we'll all be able to get along just fine without Kuchiki-san!" Orihime laughed nervously.

Ichigo, Renji, and Uryu, immediately feeling guilty from acting in such a way in front of Orihime, suddenly found their feet to be the most interesting thing in the room.

"Yes, sure- whatever. Just show me this tree of yours so I can get of here, all right?" Renji finally said.

"Oh, right," Ichigo replied. "Just follow me and keep up, got it?"

"Yeah, yeah."

They walked on in silence until a sudden coughing noise erupted towards the back of the group.

"Ishida-kun? Are you all right?" Orihime asked as she placed a hand on the back of the coughing Quincy.

"Y-yes. *cough* I'm all right. I must just be catching a slight *cough* cold or something," the other replied.

"Geez, take better care of yourself, man," Renji said with a sigh as he walked through the school gates. "Hey! Is this supposed to be some sort of joke? I thought you said the tree was in the school yard? There's nothing here!"

"What?" Ichigo shouted as he looked for himself. Sure enough, the tree was gone- the only remainder present was a hole in the ground where the tree had been.

"That's impossible!" Orihime gasped. "It was just there yesterday!"

"The police did say that they would have it removed by Monday..." Chad said.

"No one could have removed a tree from a school yard _that_ quickly... There aren't even any indentions anywhere showing where a large machine could have been to pull the tree out," Uryu stated.

"This is so weird! Where could it have gone?" Ichigo said. Suddenly, he pointed at Uryu. "Hey, why didn't you give us a head's up? You're the only one who can feel that thing, right? So why didn't you tell us it was gone?"

"Well, to be quite honest, I haven't felt it since I woke up this morning," replied the Quincy. "But I figured that it was just my cold or something..."

"This is getting us nowhere!" Ichigo growled. "I'm telling you, Renji, it was here!"

"Well, then, where is it _now_," Renji asked irritably.

"I don't know!" Ichigo yelled. "Don't you think if I knew, I would tell you?"

"Well, you're certainly not doing anything to find it!"

"Well, neither are you!"

As Orihime looked on worriedly, Uryu sighed and pushed up his glasses. _These idiots are just making my headache worse..._ He thought as he knelt down and placed a hand on the ground.

"What are you doing?" Chad asked as Ichigo and Renji continued fighting.

"Finding the tree," was Uryu's simple reply before he closed his eyes and concentrated. He stretched his mind to its limits, searching anywhere and everywhere for any small trace of spiritual pressure.

_Let's see... There's Chad, Inoue, Kurosaki, Renji... There's Urahara and Tessai... and Yoruichi... The Shinigami in charge of taking care of Hollow in this sector... A Hollow towards the outskirts; it looks like the Shinigami is going to handle it, though... Ah! There!_

"I've found it!" Uryu shouted suddenly, causing him to go into another fit of coughing. These coughs were much worse than before, however- racking his entire frame until he could barely breathe.

"Oh, Ishida-kun! Those sound awful! You should go home and get some rest!" Orihime said worriedly as she began to rub his back.

"No, no, *cough* I'll be fine!" Uryu assured as the fit ended. "We should get going! I know where the tree is now!"

The others didn't seem so convinced about the Quincy's condition, but decided not to press it, figuring that if Uryu had the strength to keep up a facade of good health, then he would be able to continue the mission for now. If only they knew at the time just how wrong they were...

**...**

"How much farther _is _it?" Ichigo complained for the umpteenth time since they had begun walking.

"It would be faster if we could just Shunpou to-" A venomous glare from the Quincy, who had only just finished another coughing fit, silenced the Shinigami immediately.

"Oh... Right..." Renji laughed nervously as he shot a glance to the two walking slightly behind him, unable to use the Shinigami's Shunpou (or Quincy's Hirenkyaku). Unfortunately, they had heard what he was about to say.

"Ne, you guys go on ahead! Sado-kun and I will catch up, okay?" Orihime asked with a smile that was obviously fake.

"No, Inoue; it's all right. Abarai was just speaking out of turn. You're both part of the group, too," Uryu replied. "Besides, you don't even know where we're going."

"Well, if you would _tell_ us then that wouldn't be a problem!" Ichigo growled.

Uryu sighed loudly. "We're going to the large field to the east of Karakura town."

"WHAT? But that's still so far away! And it's getting dark! You know how much my dad hates it when he doesn't know where I am after nightfall..."

Both Ichigo and Uryu shuddered, remembering a time during a rather late study date when his father had barged into Uryu's apartment (where they both had fallen asleep) and practically hugged Ichigo to death, crying all the while.

"So? Give him a call. Tell him you won't be coming home tonight or something," Renji suggested.

"Yeah, I guess I could do that," Ichigo replied, taking out his cell phone.

Orihime looked at her watch. "Oh, no! I have a shift starting soon! I should really get back!" she exclaimed, elbowing Chad in the side nonchalantly.

"Oh, uh, yeah- me, too," said the taller teen.

"What? But it's so far away, now..." Uryu said.

"That's okay! We'll just call a cab!" Orihime said happily. "Well, I guess we can't go after all! See you later!"

Leaving no time for arguments, she dashed off with Chad in tow.

"Why do I get the feeling that they really don't have any shifts tonight?" Uryu sweat-dropped.

"Tch. Those two- if they want to keep us from slowing down to their pace, let them. Let's not waste the time they've given us now," Renji stated.

"Yeah, but still... I feel kind of bad," Uryu said.

"All right! My dad thinks I'm at an all night study group at Orihime's apartment!" Ichigo exclaimed as he put away his phone.

"Ano... May I ask why _Orihime's_ apartment?" Uryu asked nervously.

"Because it's the only one he doesn't know the address to," Ichigo grumbled.

"Hm, good plan," Uryu replied.

"All right, let's get- hey, where are Chad and Inoue?" Ichigo asked.

"They had to go. Come on, we'll use Shunpou the rest of the way," Renji replied, grabbing Ichigo by the back of his kimono.

"Right, follow me," Uryu said.

Using their respective speed techniques, the three soon found themselves standing in the middle of a vast field, surrounded by nothing but tall grass and mountains far in the distance.

"Whoa..." Ichigo breathed as he looked around. "I had no idea this place was so big..."

"It's like it never ends..." Renji added.

"Yeah, the scenery would be nice... If it weren't for _that_," Uryu said, pointing in front of them.

"What the heck! How big has that thing gotten since we last saw it!" Ichigo exclaimed as he looked to where Uryu was pointing. There, in the middle of the field, was the gnarled, twisted tree- almost three times bigger than it had been in the schoolyard.

"It must have gotten so big that it had to relocate... But how could it have gotten so big, so fast? And how in the world could it have _moved_?" Uryu wondered aloud, before a coughing fit interrupted his thoughts.

"Oi! Ishida! You all right?" Renji asked.

"They sound like they just keep getting worse..." Ichigo said as he placed a hand on Uryu's back to steady him.

"I'll- I'll be fine," breathed the Quincy. "I'm sure it's nothing."

"It doesn't _sound_ like nothing- hey, wait. I think I just felt- I did just feel something! A spiritual pressure- and it came from the tree!" Ichigo said.

"One thing's for sure... You guys weren't kidding around. There's something seriously wrong about this tree. But I haven't felt anything like it before," Renji said. Suddenly, the wind picked up and dark clouds could be seen gathering above them.

"Great! So now we can finally feel it, but we can't investigate it!" Ichigo complained as raindrops began to fall softly around them.

"Come on! I think I saw a cave a few miles back! We can go there and wait this out!" Uryu yelled above the thunder and rain around them.

**...**

Soon (though not so much to them), the three found the cave that Uryu had mentioned.

"Ugh! A few miles? That was like a round-the-world trek!" Renji complained as he squeezed the water from his hair.

"Well, at least we're out of- of-" But Uryu's statement was cut off as he once again began coughing.

"Ishida! Get some rest or something, will you? You're seriously driving me insane with all that coughing!" Ichigo yelled.

"Well, I'm sorry! I can't help it!" Uryu managed to retort between coughs.

Ichigo sighed apologetically. "Look, I'm sorry; it's just this thing is really bugging me whatever it is. I just can't help the feeling that I've forgotten something really important..."

"Well at least try thinking next time before you snap at someone who's coughing his lungs up!" Uryu snapped as he curled up against a rock, back towards the two Shinigami. Ichigo stared at him wide-eyed until Renji decided to break the awkward silence that had descended.

"Regardless, there's nothing more we can do tonight," the Shinigami said as he stretched and laid down. "We should get some sleep until the storm passes."

"Yeah, I guess," Ichigo replied, casting another regretful glance towards the Quincy before lying down.

"Wait, shouldn't one of us stay up to keep watch?" Ichigo asked.

"Nah. Why bother? That tree doesn't look like it's going anywhere anytime soon; and we're out in the middle of nowhere. I'm sure we'll be fine..." replied the other before adding with a smirk, "...unless the poor wittle boy is afwaid of the dark?"

"Urusai!" Ichigo shouted, throwing a small rock at the other. Renji merely chuckled before rolling over and promptly falling asleep on Zabimaru's fur.

"Tch. Lucky..." Ichigo grumbled as he tried his best to get comfortable on the cold, hard rock. "How the hell did Ishida manage to get to sleep so fast, anyway?"

Outside, the rain continued to pour...

"Agh! Dammit! What the hell! Every time I freaking fall asleep, another rock digs into my back!" Ichigo shouted in frustration as he sat up.

"Shut the hell up!" Renji yelled, as he was awakened as well.

"Well, _sorry_! Not all of us have something as comfortable as you to sleep on, you know!" Ichigo replied.

"Great! Now I'm never going to get back to sleep tonight!" Renji sighed, ignoring Ichigo's complaint. "I'm surprised Ishida hasn't woken up yet... Wait a minute- what?"

"Ugh, what is it _now_?" Ichigo grumbled.

"He's gone!" Renji shouted.

"What?"

Sure enough, looking to the spot where he had lain earlier, Ichigo immediately noticed the Quincy's absence.

"Where could he have gone?" Ichigo yelled.

"Anywhere," Renji replied.

"What?"

"Look- the rain stopped."

As Ichigo looked towards the front of the cave, he did notice that the rain had indeed stopped, though the dull, gray rainclouds still remained.

"Come on, we won't find Ishida just sitting around here," he said as he started to exit the cave.

"You go ahead; I should report in just what we found yesterday. Perhaps the Department of Research and Development knows more about it," Renji replied.

"Shouldn't you have done that last night?" Ichigo yelled.

"I should have... but I didn't," Renji smirked.

"Teme!" Ichigo shouted. "How would you feel if someone left you when you were searching for a friend!"

"Look! I'm just trying to be smart! Kurotsuchi-taichou may know something about the tree and what it does. If it's dangerous we have to know!"

"'If it's dangerous'? Ishida is out there all alone and you're only just know considering the fact that the tree may be dangerous! It's your fault in the first place! I told you someone should keep watch!" Ichigo yelled as he hauled Renji up by the front of his kimono.

"Yeah, fine! It's all my fault! Go ahead and blame me! Meanwhile, Ishida is still out there, and I still haven't reported in!" Renji stated.

With one final death-glare, Ichigo released the Shinigami. "Fine. You go and report in. See if you can find anything out while I look for Ishida," he grumbled as he flash-stepped away.

"That's what I had planned, idiot," Renji snapped at the empty cave.

**...**

"Damn it, Ishida! Where are you?" Ichigo complained to himself for the hundredth time as he tried to find the Quincy. "It's a big, open plain! How hard could it possibly be to find a teenage boy wearing all white? He should stick out like a scarecrow- heck, he practically is one!"

Finally, after he had been searching for at least two hours, Ichigo decided to head for the tree. _Who knows, maybe he went ahead to investigate it before us. Tch- knowing him, he probably did it as revenge for the way I yelled at him last night..._

When he arrived, he gaped at the tree, which had now grown considerably larger than it was even yesterday.

"What the hell? How does this thing keep growing!" he wondered aloud, the wind making his voice seem almost like a whisper over the vast field. He stared at the tree for a while, almost mesmerized as its branches swayed in the wind, never ceasing their dance...

Suddenly, the tree began to groan and shift, as if it were moving itself, directing Ichigo's attention to it. As its branches turned towards him, they began to unravel, revealing something within them.

_What... What is this? It feels almost as if I've been here before..._

A thin, pale hand fell through the branches, exposing a silver necklace wrapped around it's wrist that Ichigo knew he had seen somewhere...

_Wait... Is that- Ishida's... Ishida... Ishida!_

"Ishida!" Ichigo suddenly shouted, as if he had just awoken from a dream. "My dream! This is what happened in my dream! Damn it! What do I do! Ishida!"

"Ichigo!" a voice suddenly yelled, though it was soon drowned out by the ferocious winds that had suddenly gained in speed and strength.

"Renji! What's going on! Ishida's caught in the tree! It's like it's wrapped around him or something!" Ichigo shouted as Renji finally caught up to him.

"It's wrapped around him already? Damn it! Then we're too late!" Renji stated.

"Too late? What the hell are you talking about?"

"When I contacted the Department of Research and Development, they told me that this was some type of Hollow! It was thought to have gone extinct ages ago, but apparently _that_ was an incorrect assumption! It must have been out here in this field for centuries just waiting for someone to come along so that it can steal their reiatsu!" Renji explained over the wind.

"Steal their reiatsu?"

"Yeah! It must have gotten tired of waiting and decided to take action of its own, using most of the spare energy it had gained over the years to move to a new location in Karakura Town where it could find someone with a high reiatsu! Naturally, it chose the school because it felt everyone's reiatsu there! It was so small because it had shrunk considerably over the years, losing all of the reiatsu it had gained from times before! But it requires physical contact with someone in order to absorb their reiatsu! Was Ishida the only one to touch the tree?"

"Yeah, the police had it all taped off before, and I don't think any of them touched it!" Ichigo asked, trying his best to stay upright with all of the wind around him.

"Good, because once someone touches the tree their reiatsu immediately starts deteriorating! That's why Ishida has been coughing so much! The loss of spiritual pressure has been making him gradually more ill! My best guess is that Ishida came out here to investigate the tree while we were still asleep and it finally gained enough reiatsu to grab him and suck him in!"

"Well, then, how the hell do we get him out?" Ichigo yelled angrily.  
"That's the problem! They only told me how to destroy it- not how to get someone out of it!" Renji replied. "And with all this wind, there's no way I could contact them again!"

"Seriously! What's up with all this!" Ichigo shouted.

"It's the tree! It's sucking up so much of Ishida's reiatsu that it can't control itself! It's disrupting the entire area around it!"

"Then that means... it doesn't even realize we're here!" Ichigo shouted with a smirk as he unsheathed Zangetsu and positioned it in front of him.

"Ichigo! Wait-!"

"Getsuga Tensho!" he yelled. Immediately, dark energy sprang from the blade, cutting the tree directly under where Uryu was trapped. A flash of white could be seen within the branches as they fell heavily to the ground.

"Ishida!" Ichigo yelled as he began to run over to the fallen Quincy, but a chilling scream made his blood run cold as he stopped in his tracks.

The tree began to writhe where it stood, obviously in pain from both the loss of its branches and the loss of its spiritual pressure source. Ichigo later wondered if his mind was playing tricks on him, but at that time he could have sworn that he saw a face carved into the trunk of the tree, moaning in pain as it thrashed about.

"Ichigo! You idiot! You don't know what could happen now that its source of reiatsu is gone! You could have just killed Ishida for all we know!" Renji yelled as Ichigo stared at him in shock. "But I guess never mind about that now! Just get to Ishida! I'll deal with this!"

"R-Right!" Ichigo yelled back as he broke out of his fear-induced trance. He ran over to the branches still concealing the Quincy and began to cut them off carefully.

"Ishida? Ishida! Come on, now, answer me!" he yelled as he managed to uncover most of his body. Cutting off the last of the branches, he dragged the Quincy away from the wreckage and shook him abruptly.

"Ishida! Ishida!" Concerned about what Renji had said before, the substitute Shinigami placed his ear over the Quincy's heart. A sigh of relief came from him as he heard and felt the soft thumps coming from the other's chest... but they were slow and sounded as if they were fading.

"No, Ishida! Come on! Hang in there!" Ichigo pleaded, shaking the Quincy even more.

Suddenly, a long, haunting groan filled the air as the tree fell toward the ground, ablaze with fire.

"Renji!" Ichigo yelled worriedly as smoke filled his vision. "Renji! Come on! Answer me!"

_No, no , no... Not two friends in one day... Please!_ he thought as he coughed and looked around desperately, trying to find his friend in the thick plumes of smoke. _Damn it! I can't see a thing!_ _Shouldn't the wind have blown all this away by now? Wait! The wind- it's gone! Does that mean-_

"Honestly, Ichigo! Writing me off to a tree? Come on, you know me better!" a voice sounded from a few yards away.

"Renji!" Ichigo sighed in relief as the other Shinigami walked over to him.

"How's Ishida?" Renji asked.

Finally remembering about the inert teenager in his arms, Ichigo turned his attention back to the Quincy. "That's right! He's not waking up, and his pulse is slowing down!"

"Well, I killed that thing using kidou, just like I was told," Renji replied, coughing slightly as some smoke still lingered in the air. "And if the records in the Department of Research and Development are correct, which they usually are, then Ishida should regain all of his lost reiatsu by tomorrow."

"Oh, that's good," Ichigo sighed, relieved, before finally registering the last thing Renji said.

"WAIT- WHAT! What do you mean 'by tomorrow'? Does that mean he won't wake up until then? What am I supposed to do about this!" Ichigo held up the limp teenager in his arms for Renji to see... except for the fact that the other Shinigami was already long gone, having flash-stepped away with a smirk shortly after finishing his explanation.

Ichigo yelled a curse in frustration before tossing the unconscious Quincy over his back and flash-stepping after the other, leaving behind nothing but the burnt remains of an old tree in a vast, lonely field...


End file.
